The Nicholson Museum

Lebanon: from Baalbek to Beirut

Using artefacts from antiquity to the modern day, as well as the large format photography of Rowan Conroy, this exhibition highlights the heritage of this extraordinary country.

Among the objects on display, an Egyptian mummy coffin made from Lebanese cedar sits alongside a jirrin (a traditional grinding mortar) made from a medieval column capital. These two objects demonstrate the role of the Lebanese as one of the great trading peoples of the world and also of the spread of Leabnese culture. Conroy's photographs, taken in May 2006, focus on the lost splendours of Baalbek, the largest temple complex ever built in the Roman world, and on everyday life in modern Beirut.